A fire at the peat-fired generating station at Rhode, Co Offaly, will put the 80-megawatt station out of commission for up to three months, the ESB confirmed last night.
The 127 staff at the plant will not be laid off but will be brought back next week to begin the clear-up at the midlands power plant, a company spokesman indicated.
One fireman was injured fighting the blaze, which was spotted at Unit No 2 of the power plant's storage area at 8.15 a.m. yesterday. He was treated for facial injuries.
Eight tenders from four fire stations tackled the blaze in the building beside the cooling towers.
The fire started in a bunker containing 600 tonnes of milled peat. It spread quickly from the fuel bunker via the feeding belts which convey the milled peat to the burner unit and caused severe damage to the belts and to the roof of the station, which was built in 1960.
The smoke from the burning belts and the peat hindered the firefighters' efforts to control the fire, which raged on the top of the building, breaking windows and damaging the roof and wiring.
The 100 workers who had been at the plant were evacuated as a precaution and sent home as firefighters battled for four hours before regaining control of the situation.
An ESB spokesman said it would be some time before the extent of the damage, which is thought to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, would be known.
He said, however, that it would be between two and three months before the station would be able to generate electricity again and the workers would be back at the plant next week to begin the clear-up and repair of the station.
He said the fire posed no threat to the future of the station, which is scheduled to continue operations until the year 2006.
There was no interruption in supplies because the station's capacity was replaced on the national grid automatically when it shut down.
The ESB spokesman paid tribute to the local firefighting services for their work.